foreign policy 1970-1979

Question 1

when did Britain enter the EEC?

Answer 1

1973?

Question 2

who retired in 1969?

Answer 2

Charles De Gaule

Question 3

how did the Daily Mirror describe the day Britain join the EEC?

Answer 3

‘ascension day’ as the ‘Day of the Great Happening’

Question 4

advantages of Britain joining the EEC?

Answer 4

• gained access to European markets
• benefitted from the final end of wartime antagonisms
• as part of the European block it stood a better chance of attracting global business
• British regions were entitled to European development grants
• British workers had the right to work in other EEC countries
• greater opportunity of movment

Question 5

disadvantages for Britain joining the EEC?

Answer 5

• Britain could no longer buy cheap food from the Commonwealth
• Britain had to make higher contributions to the EEC budget than it received grants from Europe
• CAP dear food meant higher prices for British consumers
• Common Fisheries Policy restricted Britain’s fishing rights in customary grounds
• Britain had to impose a VAT on most commodities
• Britain had joined a protectionist organisation that appeared dated in the era of global markets

Question 6

what was internment

Answer 6

gave policy the ability to hold troublemakers without trial, during Heath’s government

Question 7

when was internment imposed?

Answer 7

August 1971

Question 8

what did internment aim to do?

Answer 8

aim to reduce violent men from their communities and so reduce secretarian tensions

Question 9

what were the consequences of internment?

Answer 9

• increased tensions in Northern Island
• feeling amongst Catholics that they were being persecuted
• strained relations between British and Irish governments
• breaking of cross party understanding in the House of Commons since many Labour MPs opposed internment

Question 10

when was Bloody Sunday?

Answer 10

January 1972

Question 11

how many demonstrators were shot by British troops on Bloody Sunday?

Answer 11

14

Question 12

what did the widgery report conclude?

Answer 12

shots had been fired at the soldiers first

Question 13

what did Heath impose before the report?

Answer 13

direct rule

Question 14

relationship with the USA in this time period:

Answer 14

• initially positive with Heath supporting Nixon’s bombing of Hanoi in 1972
• declined with Heath only referring to UK-US relations as a ‘natural relationship’
• worsened by joining the EEC
• disagreements over handing of the Yom-Kippur War

Question 15

what formal relations were established in 1971

Answer 15

relations with Behrain